Triple Crown Overview

Here is a link to a post over at Pro Wrestling Only.  If you aren't a member there, what the hell are you waiting for ... get on it.  The thread itself is really very informative about some of the history of the Triple Crown.

Here is kind of the import and informative bit from historian John Williams.

All Japan's "World Title" in the 80s was the NWA World Title. Same in the 70s. All Japan was a territory, just like Mid-Atlantic / JCP.  The US Title in JCP wasn't their "world title". It was the top title in the territory, and when the NWA Champ came through town, that took precedent.

Anyway...

The titles were basically this:

International Title = Rikidozan's Title

It was the top title in JWA. Rikidozan dominated it. He died and it lay dormant for a while.

When they brought it back, Baba got it which was a sign that he and not Toyonobori was the top dog in the promotion. Toyonobori got the picture and eventually left.

When Baba jumped from JWA to create his own promotion, it went to Oki. JWA died, and then it had an indifferent life in Japan.  Oki didn't defend the title in Japan between the close of JWA in 1973 and 1980, when he made a trio of defenses in IWE.  Instead, he jobbed in an NWF Title match to Inoki in 1974, and then jobbed his old Asian Title (another old Rikidozan title that had passed on to him) to Baba in 1977 in a PWF Title vs Asian Title match.

Baba bought it essentially for Jumbo to chase, then win.

United National Title = Inoki's Title

A secondary title to give to Inoki since he wasn't getting the Int'l Title around Baba's waist.

Inoki got fired from JWA, and it went to Sakaguchi as Baba's #2.  Sak jobbed this on the way out, and it ended up around Takachiho's waist as JWA died in one of the funnier historical footnotes of the era.

Baba in All Japan brought it back, and it was the secondary title of All Japan for Jumbo. Similar role as the belt played in JWA.

PWF Title = Baba's Title

This actually was a World Title when it was created as Baba didn't yet have the NWA deal, which was still with JWA.  When the JWA died, Baba got the NWA deal over Inoki, and Brisco came over on tour in early 1974.  NWA vs PWF Title match, DCOR, and Baba stopped calling the PWF Title a "world title".  Pretty safe to suspect that in January they knew the payoff to the deal was that Brisco would come back in December and do a title turn around with Baba. I get that Jack liked to pretend that the US NWA didn't know this was going on and that he (Brisco) got paid nicely by Baba to do this... but that's not credible. Baba was in the deal an NWA member. You don't fuck with the NWA Title with a real change in those days without the NWA signing off on it. Baba also grew to be one of the more powerful and respected NWA promoters... you don't do that if you're screwing with the title without agreement of the home office and money going that direction.

Anyway, the PWF Title was the #1 title in All Japan in that period.

Where it gets murky is that there was a transition period in All Japan where Jumbo was getting elevated to being the Ace.  There wasn't a moment where Jumbo wasn't the Ace one day, and the next day he was the Ace. I've gone over it in other threads, but it's a gradual thing with a series of events.

In turn, there isn't a clear moment where Baba says, "I'm not the Ace". It's the same gradual thing.  Baba kind of booked it nicely so that in the stretch where Jumbo was cementing himself as the Ace, Baba had passed the PWF Title over to Hansen.  Once Jumbo was more clearly the Ace, Baba took one last spin with the PWF Title before phasing himself more fully downward.

Timelining it...

The PWF Title was #1 from the time it was created until the Int'l was bought.  The PWF and Int'l were then roughly on par until the PWF went to Hansen and the Int'l went to Jumbo on the same series. People might not think that based on how the Int'l was elevated from later on, but it's really how it was placed.  The only time the belts were defended on the same card in that 1981-83 period, Baba-Race was above Brody-Dory.  Even as late as 1984, the major Sumo Hall card had Baba-Hansen at the top with the Martel-Jumbo AWA Title rematch in the semi, while the Martel-Jumbo Int'l Title match was six days earlier on a lesser card.

After that... the Int'l was #1, the PWF was #1-A, and the UN was the secondary title for Tenryu.  The PWF got a pretty respectable push in 1986 around Choshu: good buildings relative to the Int'l title, and a good match ups. It faded down the stretch of 1986, and was pretty pedestrian in Hansen's run the next year until they heated up Stan vs Tenryu which eventually lead to the PWF and UN getting unified.  Which across a year led to the Triple Crown.

Thanks John for the great info!!

Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs. Terry Gordy - Triple Crown Championship Match 8

I am back.  Hope I was missed, at least a little!  I got burned out on writing about wrestling (see the DKP 2011 and 2012 annuals) and took a 2 year break.  But diving back into the All Japan matches is important for me and so here we go.

The match between Jumbo and Terry Gordy takes place on June 5, 1990 and is perhaps the start of the most famous week in AJPW history.  This match essentially takes place because Jumbo needs to loose the belt before his upcoming match in three days with Mitsuharu Misawa.  As we noted on our last post, Tenryu has recently left to form Super World Sports, and Giant Baba is elevating Misawa to main event status.  On the previous tour, Misawa, then wrestling as Tiger Mask II, ripped off his mask mid match, and challenged Tsuruta.  That match will take place at Budokan Hall on June 8, and Baba does not want it to be a title match.  So he needs to get the title off of Jumbo and decides to give Gordy the rub with a short term title run.  I am not sure the exact reasoning why all of the events of the week take place, but I will go into them more over the next post or so.

Also kind of cool is we get a few short snippets of Misawa watching this match from afar.

Back to the match at hand, it is our second look at Gordy.  I like Gordy, but of all the wrestlers who compete for the Triple Crown during the 90s, he is one of my least favorites.  I loved him as a Freebird, and I think the Miracle Violence Connection with Steve Williams is a great AJPW tag team.  But as a single, Gordy just isn't my favorite.  And that is odd, because he is a good worker, moves well for a big man and works stiff as hell.  His style is one I like too, wearing your opponent down and then throwing big bombs.  I suspect it is more personality based, as on his own, I think Gordy tends to be rather bland.  Teamed with the personable Michael Hays or the imposing Williams, then it is an act I can dig.  On his own, not so much.

This match is kind of what you expect from Gordy.  Hot start with each trying to hit big moves.  It then moves into Gordy on top controlling the mid portion of the match trying to keep Jumbo down.  Once Jumbo takes control back, they move into trading big moves with Jumbo hitting a piledrive, his power bomb and his backdrop driver.  Meanwhile Gordy hits a big lariat, a nasty power bomb of his own and eventually a DDT for the win.   When he hits the move and gets the three count, the announcer goes absolutely insane and Freebird starts to blast through the arena.  Jumbo beats a hasty retreat and Gordy celebrates with Williams, his tag team partner.

A fun short match.  More important historically than being a super match.  But one you should check out.